Used car buy : 2008-14 Rav 4 vs 2010-14 Hyundai ix35 vs 2010-14 Kia Sportage

[fgpsi]

Hi guys

Looking to buy one of the following SUV's in auto for my wife. She had an Astra for almost 10 years and it was a great little car but its time to move on

so the options are:

2008-14 Toyota Rav 4 2.4 litre 4cyl

2010-14 Hyundai ix35 2.0 petrol , 2.4 petrol or turbo diesel

2010-14 Kia sportage 2.0 petrol , 2.4 petrol or turbo diesel

Have any of you guys had any of these cars before? and what motor would be the most reliable?

Have heard the hyundai and the kia are pretty much the same car so its what you prefer looks wise.

Reckon the Kia looks the best of the lot. the hyundai probably has the best interior with the kia second (apparently the red lights are really annoying though) and the rav4 is probably the most dated looking inside and out. budget is around 12-13k

Any advice/opinions welcome and thanks in advance

[Citroënbender]

I would buy the Korean which sold the most units in Oz. Simply because at that age if you need panel repairs it may come down to used parts - greater availability likely means lower supply cost. Assuming the trannies in both are identical.

[Junkyard-Dog]

I would buy the Hyundai. I have only heard good things from those that have owned ix35s of that vintage.

You would probably get a lot more car for your money than buying a Toyota.

[prydey]

kia and Hyundai are essentially the same car, but didn't always get the updates and changes at the same time. for eg, my folks bought a 2017 Tucson (superceded the ix35) but the 2017 sportage still had the older generation motor. Just worth checking all the specs against each other. should be very similar.

Kia had 7 year warranty, so will be plenty around still with a couple of years warranty left. Hyundai only had 5year so will be out of warranty (or close to) by now. Both will be better equipped than the Toyota. The Toyota badge isn't worth the premium in my view.

For a round town car, I would get petrol. Hard to justify the extra for a diesel in stop start, round town traffic. Not sure if they had DPF's fitted, which is another reason to go petrol.

[fgpsi]

I think the 7 year warranty came in around 2016 though?

[fordomatic]

The Rav4 is the biggest piece of underpowered crap I have ever driven. I have the ZH outlander 4WD for the MRS and we have done 80,000km in it and all i've changed is the oil. It's at 200,000km now and showing no signs of giving up yet.

[Vesper Martini]

Id go for the Sportage on looks alone, expect to pay slightly less than the IX35 for the same year kms etc. good value.

Rav4 will have less tech, and just not worth the extra $$ IMO

[DFB FGXR6]

It would be the Kia for me.

But please, please avoid the 2.0 petrol engines. Not enough engine for the size of these vehicles and are only means of gaining fleet sales.

[fgpsi]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

It would be the Kia for me.

But please, please avoid the 2.0 petrol engines. Not enough engine for the size of these vehicles and are only means of gaining fleet sales.

Do you reckon the 2.0 would be ok for a slow driver ? my wife has never had a demerit point lol

[Hawkeye84]

7 Year warranty came in about the second half of 2014.

Sportage always had better reviews and was better value than the IX35.
Virtually the same car, but packaged differently - more value pumped in.

The SL Kia Sportage was designed under the watchful eye of Peter Schreyer. It was the first Sportage to get the Peter Schreyer treatment.
IX35 was still being designed by Koreans..it wasnt later until Peter Schreyer became chief designer of both brands.

My advice is to buy the MY15 Sportge SLe (facelifted model). This would have come with the 7 year warranty and was built in Europe in the Slovakian plant, which meant it had better build quality than the Korean built model it superseded (the e in SLe stands for Europe).

[Hawkeye84]

Originally Posted by fgpsi

Do you reckon the 2.0 would be ok for a slow driver ? my wife has never had a demerit point lol

The 2.0 is fine if shes doing short trips around town (picking up the kids etc).
Like any diesel, its not built for short trips. Needs to be driven.

So if shes doing little commuting, the petrol is more than enough.
If she has to travel and do quite some distance - diesel is the better engine.

[fgpsi]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye84

The 2.0 is fine if shes doing short trips around town (picking up the kids etc).
Like any diesel, its not built for short trips. Needs to be driven.

So if shes doing little commuting, the petrol is more than enough.
If she has to travel and do quite some distance - diesel is the better engine.

Yes thats what I thought. The petrol 2.0 should be fine for her and me occasionaly driving it. Not going to flatten the pedal on a 4cyl lol

2.4 petrol would be ideal but they are also much more expensive.

What are peoples thoughts on the turbo diesel engines in the ix35 and the sportage? I have heard some horror storries about turbo diesel engines and that the petrol engines are likely to last longer . I have also read on other forums that they are really good and reliable and some have gone 270,000 kms without issue

[Citroënbender]

Maintenance. Diesels live best on a diligent maintenance schedule. The right oil, changed regularly; air filters, fuel filters, good diesel, healthy cooling system and long jaunts to help clear the DPF.

If you're driving consistently long enough trips that full temperature is reached and maintained, and the DPF regens are occurring in the wild - not forced by a scantool - then they're good engines. A lot of usage doesn't really meet this criteria.

That said, my neighbours own a cleaning franchise and have snotted their diesel work i30 wagon a couple of times; it's just expired properly after limping along with a bad knock and head gasket issues for over eighteen months. So even with neglect, they can hang in there.